The kitchen is done (sort of)...

Yea! The kitchen is finished! Or at least the construction is finished. The contractor picked up the last but of trash and tools Friday. Now it's our turn. There are a bunch of boxes all stacked around and they are all full of dishes and forks and glasses and pots and cookie sheets and spices and all of the other things that belong in the kitchen.

Right now - all of that stuff is stacked around in spare bedrooms. And of course, we've got visitors coming for Easter and need those bedrooms back

But for now, we are just sitting around and being thankful that the kitchen is done. Right now, I'm drinking a glass of water AND it has ice! We are living like royalty! Oh - and did I mention that the dishwasher is running? Man - life is sweet!

We ended up addressing all of our primary problems with the old kitchen. The refrigerator doors open up all the way. The vent over the stove actually gets the smoke out (as in "outside") rather than just blowing it around. And you can walk in and out of the kitchen with the back door open - much better than than the door blocking the only entrance into the kitchen!

And we ended up with so much more! Beautiful cabinets - and the layout is amazing. Already we can tell how much more pleasant it is to be in a kitchen that is as functional as it is beautiful. And all of the tanks for that goes to Karen and the folks at Southern Kitchen. If anybody in Knoxville is looking for new cabinets - give her a call. You won't be disappointed! And you can see from the pictures that we also have some beautiful tile. All of the credit for that goes to Marni and her sister at Exact Tile. They spent countless hours with a door sample and a 4 inch piece of counter top coming up with the perfect colors and layout. You have to admire somebody who spent an hour just picking out the right color grout! So if you are looking to put any tile at all anywhere in your house - give Marni a call. She's great!

So - as you all know, the kitchen has been the primary topic (although baby Kylie has started making appearances lately!). Some of you may be curious as to what we will be writing about now. Never fear - we've been saving some things up! Not only that, but we are working on another "project" - stay tuned - we'll have more details about that in a few weeks!

For now - sit back and enjoy the pictures of the new kitchen! That's what we are doing right this second.........

Here's the original kitchen...

...and another look.

Here's the "after" view...

Isn't that better!